Bits and Pieces
by thebookhobbit
Summary: Ghost Hunt prompt-ficlets that fit nowhere else. Sometimes pairing, sometimes AU, sometimes general. Varying characters. Feel free to suggest a prompt.
1. JohnMai: Awareness

So there's a tumblr meme where people submit a character or pairing and a word and you write a ficlet for them. I did four. Someone asked me to put them here, so I did. Also I would really like to continue writing them, so please feel free to submit a character or pairing along with a word and I will write you one too!

This one, and the next two with John, were for a friend who is Blue-Starlight92 on here.

* * *

It comes in a sudden stab of realization that Naru really isn't worth all the trouble.

Mai has spent too long, far too long, chasing after someone who is too broken to be in a relationship like the kind she wants.

The feeling is so freeing, like heart has been lifted out of a years-long fog. She wants to skip and clap and sing, but that would be a little suspicious, and also they're on a case, so it's not quite tonally appropriate. Nevertheless, she walks with a spring in her step, one which doesn't go unnoticed by Monk.

"Well, what do you look so happy about?" he asks, raising one eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"Fine, fine, don't tell your old man."

"You're not my dad!" But her mind is only half on the banter right now.

It's all John's fault, really. In a way. He'd just asked her how her day was going and if she was all right because she'd looked a bit down, that was all. And Mai had realized, with one of those rare moments of clarity, that Naru had never done any such thing.

It wasn't precisely that he was mean or nasty. Well, sometimes. But, really, it's just that he's closed-off. And she's never going to be able to open him up.

So, instead, she smiles at John and finds that the possibilities are better every day.


	2. JohnMasako: Pride

Naru is prideful. He'll never admit a weakness, never admit to being wrong. And Masako is similar, really, although her motivations behind standing on her dignity are much, much different. But these similarities are the reason a relationship between them would never work. They'd never be able to approach each other. Too many walls to break down. Nobody willing to break them.

John, of course, would never tell Masako this. She would be crushed. Also, he'd have to reveal that he'd been speculating about Masako's future relationships, and he really can't let anyone know about that. He doesn't even like to admit it to himself.

He's not jealous. Really.


	3. John: Fear

Featuring an AU idea which I'm planning on expanding later: Angel!John. This is sort of a test run.

* * *

He can taste their fear, feel it like an itch under his skin, and it hurts because he knows he's failed.

Higher-ups wouldn't see it that way, of course. The point of him is to keep all of them safe, alive, not free from fear. It's part of the human experience. Nevertheless, even though he knows this is all going to turn out all right, even though he knows it's just a ghost that can't really do any permanent damage – even still, their fear hurts.

It's not supposed to be allowed, but he reaches into their minds just a little, and soothes them. They don't deserve this.


	4. Yasuhara: Strong

Yasuhara has always been the strong one in his family. He's the middle child, not the oldest, but his big sister is a college dropout with no prospects and an overfondness of liquor she inherited from their mother, who is dead now. Their dad works hard, but he can't be around much as a result, so Yasu's two little siblings depend on him for support and parenting.

Sometimes, though, he gets tired. Tired of always being the good son. Tired of people relying on him, tired of having to be there for them. And that's what he likes about the SPR. That's why he's gotten as close as he has in the short time he's known them.

They never ask him to be the strong one.

* * *

This isn't really my headcanon for his background; I haven't got one yet. I just made something up for the purposes of the prompt. If you have headcanons I would love to hear them, because I want some and I like nothing more than adopting other people's.


	5. Masako: overly attatched

Peacegirl731 wanted Masako as "The Next Overly Attached Girlfriend." I couldn't quite manage that because I love her too much, but I did try. This is set in a high school AU. Does Ghost Hunt have one yet? If not, we do now. Um, yes, so, feel free to submit prompts via review if you want to see something.

* * *

Masako knows she shouldn't call Naru so much. Or text him so much. Or see him so much. She knows that, in fact, he's probably only dating her, if you can call it that, because her father sponsors the company his father owns.

Deep down, Masako knows this. But most of the time she can ignore it – the barely-concealed irritation in Naru's expression when she walks with him to all his classes. The giggles behind her back as she clings to him at lunch. She has to ignore it, because really, she doesn't have anyone else. Nobody at school likes her much because she's a rich kid. The only other girl of her social standing, Ayako Matsuzaki, considers her a rival. Other than Naru, she has no one. A total of two people have been friendly to her at all, and she feels incapable of making a connection to either of them. It's hard to reach out and, besides, her parents would object. Neither of them is at her economic level, and one's a foreigner, anyway. Mother and Father want her to make friends that will do her some good.

They don't pay attention to her either, though, unless she does something wrong. Sometimes she thinks if they would just tell her that they loved her, or congratulate her on her homework, or thank her for never complaining when they're gone over birthdays and Christmas – if only that happened, maybe she wouldn't feel so alone.

It never does, though.

So she picks up the phone again.


End file.
